Google has just announced that they will acquire Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. (or more commonly known as just Motorola). Google will be paying $40 per share, which means a total of about $12.5 billion. That is 63% more than what was Motorola's closing price on Friday, August 12.

Motorola has been selling Android phones since the late 2009, so the Android platform is familiar for them. Google states that the goal of this acquisition is to enhance the Android platform as a whole in order to provide better user experience. Motorola will remain as an independent business, meaning that the Motorola brand is not going anywhere. Also, Android will remain open for other manufacturers.

It appears that this is Google's try to fight against Apple and iOS. One of Apple's biggest advantages has been the control of both software and hardware. Google has Nexus but the sales have been fairly low, which might indicate that the hardware has not been top notch. Motorola, on the other hand, has been in the hardware business for years, so maybe with Motorola's hardware skills, Google will be able to come up with a revolutionary smartphone.

...is that I wish I had been holding a ton of Motorola stock prior to this announcement. In addition, I wish Google all the luck in the world in their fight against Apple. The evil that people thought Microsoft was in the 90's has been realized in Apple in the 2010s, and anything that may hold Apple in check is something that I applaud.Reply

Well so much for Android being open. Within a generation all 3rd party phones will be reduced to 2nd class citizens. Being vertically integrated like this will definitely have some benefits, but it will also have its downsides. In the meantime it's becoming increasingly clear that Android is a failure as an open operating system.Reply

That's not a troll, I'm serious. Google already enclosed Android some with 3.x. Now they're going to be competing with their hardware partners - why would they want to share the latest and greatest with them? You don't spend 12.5B on a hardware company in order to run it at a loss.Reply